Dr. Todd Sosna, Ph.D. is the new chief program officer of Children’s Institute (CI) in Los Angeles, CA. Sosna’s new role will see him leading a staff of 800 and managing a $70 million budget as he oversees the organization’s Early Education, Behavioral Health, Family Strengthening and Community Innovations programs. Sosna is not new to Children’s Institute, having previously served as its senior vice president for program evaluation and improvement from 2012 to 2014. He was also brought back on in April 2018 as interim senior vice president of clinical services.
Courtesy of Children's Institute
Dr. Todd Sosna
A trained and practiced psychologist, Sosna earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Pitzer College before moving on to Washington State University to complete his master’s and doctorate degrees in clinical psychology. After the completion of his education in 1991, he joined the Santa Barbara County Department of Alcohol, Drug and Mental Health Services as a staff psychologist. He would work in this capacity for a little less than a year before earning promotion to the position of assistant director, a position in which he would serve for nearly six years.
Sosna then founded Todd Sosna Management Consulting in 2000, which provides consulting services for public and private health, social services and corrections agencies seeking to improve the ways they respond to the health and mental health needs of those in their care. The founding and leading of this firm dominated his career for the next three years before he joined the California Institute for Mental Health; hired as a senior training, research and policy associate in July of 2003. He would ultimately spend over eight years there, finishing out the last 15 months as the organization’s deputy director before joining CI for the first time in 2012. After his first two-year stint at CI, Sosna was brought on by Jewish Family Service as its senior vice president of operations, where he worked until returning to CI earlier this year.
Dr. Sosna has excelled in the various positions of his career, earning him recognition for key accomplishments. He is known for leading the development of Santa Barbara County’s nationally-recognized integrated child care system and helping to establish California’s early childhood mental health programs in partnership with Head Start agencies. Now he brings this experience with him to the next chapter of his career at CI.
“Over the past eight months, Dr. Sosna has demonstrated strong leadership, collaboration and accountability, and has fostered strong morale throughout the reorganization of our clinical and community programs. We currently have the unique opportunity to unify our broad array of services to achieve lasting impact for the children and families we serve, and I am confident Dr. Sosna is the best suited candidate for this crucial role,” said Martine Singer, President & CEO, Children’s Institute in a press release about the appointment.
Dr. Todd Sosna officially began work as chief program officer of Children’s Institute on Dec. 3, 2018.
